Matvei Zakharov

Matvei Zakharov (17 August 1898-31 January 1972) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union who served as Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army from April 1960 to March 1963 (succeeding Vasily Sokolovsky and preceding Sergey Biryuzov) and from November 1964 to September 1961 (succeeding Biryuzov and preceding Viktor Kulikov).

Biography
Matvei Zakharov was born on 17 August 1898 in the village Voylovo in the Russian Empire, near the Russian city of Tver. He joined the Bolsheviks in 1917 and served under Kliment Voroshilov during the Russian Civil War, graduating from the Frunze Military Academy in 1928 and from the Soviet General Staff Academy in 1937; he graduated a year earlier than he was supposed to, as the Great Purge led to a shortage of officers in the Red Army. He served in various staff roles until 1943, when he became Chief-of-Staff of the 2nd Ukrainian Front during World War II, proving himself to be one of the top Soviet generals of the war. After the end of the way with Nazi Germany in May 1945, he was transferred to the Russian Far East, where he helped in planning the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. In 1959, he would become a Marshal of the Soviet Union, and he would serve as Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army on two occasions. He retired in 1971, and he died in 1972 at the age of 73.